Archive for October, 2010

— The first thing I wanted to do when the shootout ended was go down into that locker room and shake Dave Caruso’s hand. That was one of the most incredible goaltending performances I’ve seen in a long, long time — 67 saves, 60 saves, 55 saves, whatever it was — and he’s the reason that Trenton got a point tonight.

He wasn’t tested too much during the game, but those final stops he made in overtime, especially that last one on the rebound…he was absolutely, positively in the zone tonight.

— If those shot totals hold up, and believe it or not, they were fluctuating even as post-game interviews were taking place, much to the amusement of the coaching staff…some records were approached and/or set.

Dave Caruso’s 67 saves would be an ECHL regular season record, eclipsing the mark of 65 set by Daniel Boisclair for Greenville on March 17, 2004. It would be the second highest amount of saves made at Trenton, as Elmira’s Michael Teslak made 71 in the four overtime thriller in Game 1 of the first round in 2008-09.

Gwinnett’s 69 shots tie an ECHL record, held by the Richmond Renegades (1990) and Tallahassee Tiger Sharks (1997). As a team, they were credited with 70…but the additional shot may not count towards the record as it was credited a team shot (and goal) as a result of winning the shootout.

The combined 112 shots would fall two behind the record set by Richmond and Erie on December 23, 1990.

— Every player in the game except Martin Nolet, Will Colbert and Ian McKenzie recorded a shot.

— With all that said…69 shots seems awful high. I think 55-60 seems more accurate. Given that a record is involved, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game tape is reviewed and the number is adjusted. Regardless, Caruso was unbelievable.

— The officiating was interesting tonight. I know there was some carryover in the physicality from last night’s game and I’m sure the refs were trying to squash things early, but there was a lot of ticky-tack stuff getting called. The game had no flow to speak of.

— The refs did, however, give Trenton plenty of opportunities to work on their power play. They proceeded to go 0-for-16 for the homestand. Not good.

— Thought Matt Kang had a really, really strong game. Amazing he only recorded two shots. Stronger on the puck than you think he’d be, and he doesn’t hesitate to take it to the net. Thing is, he’s got to put it on said net a bit more…there was one sequence where he was in close and made blind backhanded passes to the opposition.

Kang will be OK after getting slammed into the boards head-first late in the game. He had a small welt under his right eye, but seemed fine after the game otherwise.

— Nice effort by Kory Nagy and Taylor Vichorek tonight. Two assists for each. Nagy still has some work to do on his offensive game — the 2-on-1 where he let the D take away the pass and hesitated on the shot in the second period — is a great example of that.

— Dave Leaderer made his AHL debut tonight, recording two shots and two PIM’s in Albany’s 3-2 win over Providence.

— Vacation time for me, kids. Kevin Dean was kind enough to agree to providing me some periodic updates via cell phone during my time away, so I’ll give him a call on occasion and see what’s going on with this interesting, interesting team. I’ll be sure to check in from out west as much as I can.

“If we would have played the last five minutes or so like we played the ten before that, we probably would have won. It’s definitely fortunate (to get a point), but it’s a good learning experience. I think our guys saw the difference in the two games we played. The first 40 minutes and the last 20 was a huge difference, and that’s part of the process. Sometimes players — when I was a player, I remember you think you’re playing well, you think you’re playing hard, you think you’re winning battles, but you’re just not — and maybe that was the case the first 20. We righted the ship there at the end.”

“I don’t think there was much of a difference (between last night and tonight, defensively). We didn’t play as well, but it wasn’t defensively, it was offensively. We didn’t take the body, we didn’t play with much jam or assertion at all. I certainly don’t believe there was 69 shots, they didn’t have 20 in the 3rd and the puck was in their end the whole period. I don’t even think there was 11 (in overtime), maybe with the power play. But even that I think is a bit of a stretch. But even then, we didn’t play well in the first 40 minutes and we…I wouldn’t say we were turning pucks over, but we just didn’t have any oomph to our game, and that’s how we got down 2-0. They got kind of a lucky goal, that second goal was a crappy goal for sure. But we played well in the third and we were fortunate to come back.”

“Certain guys were struggling, and our power play was not good this weekend at all. They did not handle their pressure well at all. They do a good job, but we’ve got to be better. We understand what they’re trying to do, we just seem to be getting mauled on the wall a little bit. It’s an adjustment we should probably make next time.”

“Off the top of my head (to fix the PP), I’d say we need to spread our defenseman and go maybe four corners — two guys wide at the points and then a guy in front and two guys off to the side of the net and just zip it around and try to get them to settle down. They can’t run corner to corner and point to point, it’s too far and there’s too many holes opening up. Instead of getting it all over on the one side, maybe just spreading it around a little bit.”

“(Caruso) was unbelievable, in overtime especially. Right at the end there, he made two unbelievable saves. And again, it’s his positioning. He made a really good stop, and then he was in position to dive and make the second stop right with ten seconds or so left. That was something else. He was great, no question.”

CARUSO

“I don’t know how many (saves I had), I really don’t. They had a lot from the outside, and sometimes they don’t give you (credit for) those a lot of places. They’re actually shots on net.”

“(On the OT PP) I knew they had a big shot in Nesbitt and a big shot in Paris, and I knew they were looking for each other and I was just trying to get over to them before they could actually shoot it, and that was my whole key. I had a feeling if they came down I would have been there and I could just square up. Our D did a good job of taking away the back door. My job was to stop that off-side (wing) shot on the one-timer. The D did a good job, Miller came up pretty big on a couple of clears and he blocked a shot.”

“I think you get a little bit more in a rhythm (playing back to backs). Practice is one thing, but games are another. I thought early in the season, it’s a little tougher to go back to back, you don’t know the whole rhythm, even though you’d done it last year. After the first period, probably, I felt good. It was one of those things. They were putting everything on net, low and kind of like medium speed shots, and those are kind of hard to control.”

(On if he gets stronger when he sees more shots) “It depends on what kinds of shots I’m getting. If I’m getting Grade-A scoring chances, probably some of them are going to go in. I don’t know, maybe.”

“They had different guys (in the shootout), they had guys that were not as skilled go. A lot of times in shootouts in practice, it’s the D that win, because they might be more patient and they don’t try to do as fancy stuff, and that’s what happened. Krug came in super slow and he just outwaited me. I went for the poke-check and he just shot it as hard as he could.”

“I’m glad with what we did in the third period to come back and get the point. Maybe if we do that every period, there’s no way of stopping us there. You definitely see flashes of the team that played so well last year at the end, you definitely see flashes. We just have to get that earlier this year.”

Third Period: Amazing. Amazing they came back, amazing they’re even in the game. Dave Caruso’s made 50 saves in 60 minutes. He’s absolutely saved their bacon tonight. Gwinnett took their collective foot off the gas pedal in the third as well, however…and Tony Zancanaro and J.S. Berube made them pay.

Second Period: First off, the Rubiks Cube got hosed in the costume contest. Secondly, this time is who we thought they were after two periods. 38 shots allowed through two. 38 shots! Gwinnett is skating all over and around these guys, and even Chris Poli burned his old boys with a second period goal to make it 2-0. Yikes. Caruso’s been very, very good…but there’s not much he can do. He can’t score. That’s what they need right now…badly. Somehow, one goal gets them right back in it.

First Period: Well, that turned messy quickly. Trenton’s defense pretty much melted 14 seconds into the game, leaving Dave Caruso out to dry on an easy rebound goal by Tim Filangieri. Afterwards, it pretty much degenerated into a “who has the best special teams” contest, and both teams stayed off the scoresheet for the remainder of the first 20 minutes.

Already 24 minutes in penalties (with no fights) and we’re only through one period here. And if you’re wondering who the guy whose Stanley Cup ring is blinding you in the elevator…that’s Grant Marshall. Or maybe that was just me wondering that.

—

6:55 PM — I think Matt Lombardi’s the scratch, if my peek at the ECHL official roster sheet is accurate.

Not sure what’s going in here, but at the very least, you guys can use this is an open thread to discuss the game. I can only be so lazy, so I’ll be sure to weigh in as often as I can.

6:45 PM — Carrozzi vs. Caruso is your goalie matchup. Did not see Dan Charleston out there…did see Ryan Hayes and Matt Kang. Wonder what’s going on with the scratch.

6:10 PM — Back from the land of pizza, where I can assure you I’m spending my time well. Anyway, I’m heading down for warmups…I’ll have any lineup news shortly.

4:05 PM — Well, it’s three hours before the drop of the puck and “Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison is blaring over the sound system here for nobody inparticular. Insert your own joke about the attendance here.

Anyway, the Dave Leaderer call-up is official…technically, he’s signed a PTO with Albany since he’s on an ECHL deal.

I’ll have any relevant news up until game time. Haven’t entirely figured out what my coverage plan during the game will be. I’m leaning towards just sitting back and watching…I’d like to get a better feel for this team, and that’s kind of difficult with my face buried in a keyboard for half the game. That, and I leave for my vacation tomorrow morning and I’m kind of already in that mode…but I’ll have all the key quotes like usual after the game at the very least.

Kevin Dean already told us yesterday that Dave Caruso will be starting today for Trenton, and I’d suspect (see: hope) that it’ll be Atlanta Thrashers draft pick Chris Carrozzi between the pipes for Gwinnett.

— I’ll get to comments from Kevin Dean and Dave Caruso in a bit…but let me get some stuff out of the way real quick.

— Dave Leaderer has, in fact, been called up to AHL Albany. That should be made official tomorrow. About time. All you need to know about Leaderer is tonight’s was the first Trenton Devils game he’s missed since he signed. Steady in every way, I hope he does well up there and sticks.

— Also, Dan Charleston (leg) is physically in Trenton and was in the locker room after the game. Probably the first time I’ve seen a player in a suit taping up sticks…think he’s anxious to get back out there? I wouldn’t rule him out for tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be too optimistic there, either.

— Andy Thomas (lower body) is progressing pretty well, according to Dean. Matt Vokes (ankle) will have a decision made on him in a little bit, and Gord Burnett (back) should be available in about a week.

— Caruso starts tomorrow.

— I’ll have a bunch more on the game in a minute, but nobody comes here for what I say…here’s Deaner and Dave after the game.

KEVIN DEAN

“Defense is team defense. When I say the defense, I don’t mean just the defensemen. But the team defense played much better. We protected the dangerous area of the ice in front our net. We weren’t turning pucks over in the neutral zone as much, sometimes you can’t help it. We just did a lot of little things that cut down…they had 34 or 36 shots or whatever…but I don’t feel like they had a ton of quality, Grade-A chances. Not like they had the first four games.”

(On his team coming right back after the first Gwinnett goal) “I was (happy). I kind of just saw the end of it. I haven’t seen it yet, but I was kind of wondering about that. If you say it was soft, I’ll take your word for it. But other than that, he played very well. He handled the puck extremely well, broke us out a couple times. He played a solid game for sure.”

“(Kell-Ginand-Zajac) You’ve got a little bit of everything on that line. You’ve got some grit with Kell and Zajac. You’ve got a lot of hockey sense and just good hockey players in Kell and Ginand and some offense with those guys. And speed with Ginand. So you’ve got a little bit of everything in that group. When they’re playing the right way, they’re hard to play against because they’ve got speed and a little bit of size and grit and they should be tough to play against. If we get them to stop and start on broken plays, their game’s going to be really hard to play against.”

“It was moreso (chippy) than the first few games for sure. But they’ve got, I wouldn’t say chippy guys, but a couple guys that look for that stuff. Vince and I were talking between the periods, and that’s good for us, I think. It gets guys a little bit annoyed and raises the level of intensity a little bit. I think that’s good, and I think it’s good for the young guys to see that a little bit as well.”

“We had a couple good chances (on the late 5-on-3). (Sauer) made a real good save on Ginand. He made a good save or two on Ginand on a nice play. But I want to see more urgency there. You’re smelling blood, it’s a 5-on-3, push the pace, play with some confidence. We looked shaky and nervous on it, I thought. Very controlled and scared about the puck. Just boom — attack the puck and play with some urgency. That’s all. You’re not going to score on every one of those, but you should score on the majority of them. At that point in the game, you’ve got to get pucks to the net and just play with some urgency.”

DAVE CARUSO

(The first goal) “They were shooting kind of weird shots today. It was almost like a grenade. When a slower shot comes in, it’s harder to control because it doesn’t go into your body as easy. When it came in, it kind of got me and exploded. Sometimes, when they shoot pucks from the point — not this team, but in general — the D shoots a slower shot and that’s harder to stop than an actual hard shot. It just caught me funny. Maybe I was cheating a little too much.”

“I guess the third time’s a charm (Caruso won his first game in his third start last season). It feels good. It feels good to do it against my former team and it feels good to get a win. We want to get something going. Our D played well, so it was a pretty good all around game.”

“You always want to play well against your former team. You know their tendencies, so maybe you feel a little more confident when you’re going against them. I know their power play pretty well. I know their coach, I know their system. I think I might feel a little more comfortable playing against them. And I like playing against them here and not in Gwinnett. We’ve played against them enough in Gwinnett.”

“I don’t really have a preference (on going first or second in the shootout). Whatever the coach says, because you have no control. You could be first the first time, you could be second the next time. I only had one shootout last year. You control what you can control, try to follow the puck. For me, it’s follow the puck with my stick. That’s my key. I really like our shootout guys, they have a lot of good moves. (Ginand) almost had one. I feel confident in them. I think this is the best shootout team we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

“Now, they’re not doing the ice, so I think that’s an advantage to the goalies. I don’t think you’re going to see as many goals, they’re going to need to shoot a little bit more.”

———

— The power play was 0-for-8 tonight. It never looked good. Too much hesitation in entering the zone most of the time. And, as Dean said, not enough shots on the 5-on-3. They should have ended the game then.

— Nice effort out of Caruso tonight. Best game I’ve seen him play in a long time. The first goal was bad, but he knows it, I know it…no point in rehashing it. It didn’t cost them, and that’s the big thing. He made the big stops when he needed to, and his save with 30 seconds to go on that 2-on-1 was huge.

— Am I overstating how impressive Ryan Ginand has looked in the first three home games? He’s really seemed like the best player on the ice on most occasions. I can only think of one occasion where I was disappointed with him tonight…he was a little hesitant on a pass by the bench-side boards in his own end. Other than that, another good effort.

— Liked Matt Lombardi’s skating…strong skater. Didn’t put up much on the scoresheet though, just one shot.

— Taylor Vichorek. I’d seen him in practice and didn’t think he was a strong skater then. Saw him tonight, same thing. He skates like a big dude, and he needs to…well, make great strides if he’s going to continue to progress. Instincts, skating…you see flashes of what he can be, but he has a way to go.

— Was nice to see Jeremy Akeson with a letter on his sweater tonight. Thing is, and I hate to say it, he hasn’t looked too good so far this season. And that’s surprising given how impressive I thought he was in camp. But he looks tentative at times and isn’t hitting the net when he is able to generate chances.

— Did anyone notice Chris Poli tonight? I didn’t. That wasn’t the case most nights he was in Trenton, so I was surprised by that. Maybe it was just me.

— I’m a little surprised that Caruso will get back-to-back starts. His play certainly warranted that, but I wonder if it’s more indicative of the struggles of Jeff Lerg.

Live Box Score: Click here for the ECHL.com updated boxscore from tonight’s game.

Radio Broadcast: Click here to listen to Dan D’Uva’s radio broadcast of tonight’s game.

First Period:

The national anthem has reaffirmed that the flag was still there. The people, however, are not. My hand count of 164 right before the drop of the puck has got to be the lowest I’ve ever had. Yikes.

19:08 left — Ryan Garbutt in the box with a trip…PP Trenton.

16:45 left — They couldn’t have done much less with the man advantage…awful breakouts and no quality chances.

14:11 left — Ryan Ginand continues to impress…nice job to get back on defense and negate a partial breakaway.

12:29 left — J.S. Berube with a no-doubter boarding call on Tim Filangieri in the corner. Gwinnett on the power play.

10:18 left — The Gladiators at least had some strong puck possession during their power play, but didn’t really get much going either…we remain tied, 0-0. Trenton with just 3 shots through the first ten minutes.

9:30 left — Uploaded a video of a Caruso stop in tight…

6:45 left — Garbutt must like the Trenton penalty box. He’s back in it. Another trip, and Trenton’s on another power play.

4:21 left — Another just…brutal looking power play. They can’t gain the zone. And when they do, Gwinnett just swarms the perimeter and Trenton doesn’t know what to do. T-Kell got a shot off, but it was a weak wrister from just inside the blue line with no traffic to speak of.

3:13 left — Nice chance by Ginand up the left side, but Sauer makes the easy pad save.

1:33 left — Caruso lets in an absolute stinker, no other way to put it. Garbutt, actually on the ice this time, takes advantage of Caruso getting caught moving to his right and juggling a very easy shot out of his glove. He didn’t recover, ended up dropping the puck, and Garbutt buried it to give Gwinnett a 1-0 lead. That one is 1000 percent on Caruso.

41.2 left — T.J. Miller with a slapshot from the left point. J.S. Berube was in front of Sauer and may have tipped it in…but either way, 1-1 game.

Second Period:

According to the mythical inbetween periods stat sheet, Gwinnett is outshooting Trenton, 14-12, through the first 20 minutes…

19:43 left — Darcy Zajac with a perfect tip past Sauer on a pass from the corner by Ginand, and Trenton’s got the lead for the first time tonight. 2-1.

14:38 left — Ian McKenzie in the box for Gwinnett on a hold…

14:25 left — Great chance for Trenton as a point shot got tipped off the post…couldn’t tell who got it, but it was very nearly a 3-1 game.

13:03 left — Nice save of sorts by Andy Brandt…the puck was rolling towards the empty net on a wild scramble, but the Gladiators d-man got a stick on it and keeps it a 2-1 game.

12:28 left — And now a save by Sauer. Jeff Prough had a golden opportunity on a cross crease pass, but Sauer sprawled across to dive and stop it…if Prough gets more on the shot or lifts it, though, it’s in. Still, nice effort by the former Lake Erie goalie.

5:00 left — Really not a whole lot to update you on. Trenton’s playing much better defensively in the second…Gwinnett’s getting shots, but a lot of low-percentage wrist shots from outside.

4:48 left — Taylor Vichorek in the box…

2:40 left — Nice PK by the T-Devils there…

2:30 left — Danick Paquette in the box for Gwinnett…might be more than just two. He wouldn’t stop trying to go after Jeremy Akeson, then made a grab at Tony Zancanaro, too.

:36 left — 5-on-3 for six seconds…Sam Roberts in the box for Gwinnett.

Period ends with Trenton up, 2-1…1:25 of PP time left.

Third Period:

Gwinnett outshooting Trenton, 26-24, through two…

18:30 left — Nothing doing on the power play. The dump and chase thing isn’t really working for them.

17:15 left — Garbutt cuts across the slot off the rush uncontested and buries a wrister past Caruso. 2-2 game. This reeks of a come from ahead loss.

15:16 left — J.S. Berube more or less takes a run at one of Gwinnett’s guys…could have called quite a few things there, but slashing it is. Power play, Gwinnett.

14:07 left — Oh, boy. Tim Miller just took an inadvertent stick right in the mouth. His mouthguard was on the ice for a while, not sure if there were any chiclets in it…he went off the ice very quickly and the trainer literally ran off the bench after him. No call, though…it was a part of a netmouth scramble and it was hard to tell exactly what happened.

11:42 left — McKenzie with an elbow on Berube…and that gets caught. Power play, Trenton.

8:20 left — Trenton had one good chance on the PP…but that’s about it. It’s a bit of a stalemate right now. Trenton’s lucky that some D lapses haven’t cost them here in the third.

5:50 left — Sauer with three big point blank stops when he needed to make them. Big saves. Stonewalling Trenton right now, who has 32 shots.

2:57 left — Paquette back in the box with a real ill-timed hook. Big, big power play for Trenton right here.

2:45 left — Oh boy. And now a slash on Derek Nesbitt. A long 5-on-3.

32.2 left — No goals. Sauer made a big save, but Trenton didn’t put the puck on net near enough, then gave up a brutal 2-on-1 where Caruso had to make a huge stop of his own.

We’re done with regulation…2-2 tie going into overtime. Each team gets a point. No goals at the end of OT? Then it goes to a shootout.

Overtime:

5:00 left — Ginand-Kell-Coutu-Miller get the first shift of OT…

3:48 left — Prough-Zajac out next up front…no good chances on either side.

2:54 left — Zancanaro-Nagy your next pair…

2:19 left — And now it’s Berube-Kell…Kell had a chance on wraparound but didn’t quite get it far out in front of the net.

1:12 left — The first stoppage of OT is on a Gwinnett icing…neither coach going to the timeout.

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